Merry Christmas, Baby (album) explained
Merry Christmas, Baby, is the first Christmas album by Rod Stewart and his 27th studio album overall, released on 30 October 2012.[1] The album has proved to be a top 10 success in many countries including the UK, US, Canada and Australia. It was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in November 2012 with over 1,000,000 copies sold in the US.[2]
Critical reception
Merry Christmas, Baby received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 53, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 6 reviews.
Commercial performance
Merry Christmas, Baby debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, with first week sales of 117,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan,[3] and spent a total of eight weeks in the top 10.[4] With total U.S. sales of 858,000 copies in 2012 according to SoundScan, Merry Christmas, Baby was the best-selling Christmas/holiday album of the year.[5] The album was also the year's fifteenth best-selling album in the U.S. according to Billboard and the ninth best-selling physical album in the U.S. according to the Nielsen Company's 2012 Music Industry Report.[6] [7]
In the UK, the album debuted at No. 2 on the Official Albums Chart and has so far spent six weeks in the top 10.[8] It sold 421,000 copies in the UK in 2012[9] and its current UK sales stand at 636,000.[10]
In Canada, the album spent eight weeks in the top ten of the Canadian Albums Chart, with three consecutive weeks at the No. 1 spot. It was the ninth best-selling album in Canada in 2012 according to year-end sales data from Nielsen SoundScan Canada with sales of 135,000.[11]
Worldwide, the album achieved total 2012 sales of 2.6 million according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, making it the seventh best-selling album of the year.[12]
Track listing
- Note
- "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" uses a vocal sample of the Ella Fitzgerald recording of the same name[14]
Personnel
Main
- Rod Stewart – lead vocals, musical arrangements (11-13)
- Jochem van der Saag – synthesizer programming (1-12)
- David Foster – acoustic piano (1-3, 6-8, 10), keyboards (5, 9, 11-12), string arrangements (1, 3-4, 9–13), horn arrangements (2, 5-6, 8-9), musical arrangements (11-13)
- Kevin Savigar – keyboards (13), programming (13), musical arrangements (13)
Guest Musicians
Additional Vocalists
- Bridget Cady – backing vocals (5, 9)
- Mabvuto Carpenter – choir vocals (13)
- Angela Fisher – choir vocals (13), Gospel Choir contractor
- Kimberly Johnson – backing vocals (5, 9), choir vocals, choir contractor (13)
- Krystal Johnson - choir vocals (13)
- Bobbi Page – vocal contractor (12)
- Page LA Children's Choir – backing vocals (12)
- Dieyelle Reed – backing vocals (5, 9), choir vocals (13)
- Will Wheaton – choir vocals (13)
- Gospel Choir – Keith Allen, Bridget Cady, Bryan Terrell Clark, David Daughtry, Melanie Fontana, Holly Palmer, Dieyelle Reed, Brandon Winbush and Lucy Woodward
Additional Instrumentalists
- Chris Walden – orchestra conductor (1, 3, 4, 8–13), trumpet (2, 6, 7), horn arrangements (2, 6, 7), string arrangements (3, 8, 9), trombone (7)
- Isobel Griffiths – orchestra contractor (1, 3, 4, 8–13)
- Dean Parks – guitar (1, 2, 3, 5–9, 11, 12), guitar solo (4, 10)
- Emerson Swinford – guitar (13)
- Chuck Berghofer – bass (1, 2, 6–8, 10)
- Peter Erskine – drums (1, 2, 7, 10)
- Matt O'Connor – percussion (2, 3, 5, 6, 9), additional percussion (11)
- Jeff Driskel – saxophone (2, 6, 7)
- Jimmy Roberts – saxophone solo (9)
- Tim McFatter – tenor saxophone (5, 9)
- Dan Oestreicher – baritone saxophone (5, 9)
- Bob McChesney – trombone (2, 6)
- William Ross – string arrangements (1, 4, 10–13)
- J'Anna Jacoby – violin (13)
Production
- Producers – Rod Stewart (Tracks 1–13); David Foster (Tracks 1–12); Kevin Savigar (Track 13).
- A&R – Jay Landers
- A&R Coordinator – Katherine Frangetis-Tempesta
- Recorded by Don Murray, Jochem van der Saag and Jorge Vito.
- Additional Recording – Jack Miele
- Engineers – Jochem van der Saag and Jorge Vito
- Recorded at Chartmaker Studios, Henson Recording Studios, The Village Recorder, Satinwood Studio and Studio City Sound (Los Angeles, CA); Garage Studios (Palm Beach, FL); Echo Beach Studios (Jupiter, FL); Fudge Recording Studio (New Orleans, LA).
- Orchestra recorded by Jonathan Allen and Steve Price at Abbey Road Studios (London, England) and Angel Recording Studios (Islington, England).
- Choir recorded by Tom Weir at Studio City Sound.
- Mixed by Jochem van der Saag at Blue Studios (Malibu, CA).
- Mastered by Vlado Meller at Vlado Meller Mastering (Charleston, SC).
- Art Direction and Design – Jullian Pepole Studio
- Photography – Penny Lancaster
- Management – Arnold Stiefel
Charts
Year-end charts
Awards and recognition
In February 2013, the album was nominated for a Canadian Juno Award in the International Album of the Year category.[22]
Notes and References
- Web site: Rod Stewart - Merry Christmas, Baby CD Album . Cduniverse.com . 30 October 2012 . 15 December 2012.
- Web site: Rod Stewart and the Monkees Get RIAA Certificates in November. vintagevinylnews.com. 11 December 2012.
- Caulfield . Keith . Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart Aiming for No. 1 on Next Week's Billboard 200 Albums Chart . Billboard . 29 November 2012 . 15 December 2012.
- Music Albums, Top 200 Albums & Music Album Charts . Billboard . 2013-01-03.
- Web site: Chart Watch Extra: Top Albums of 2012. Grein. Paul. Yahoo! Music. 3 January 2013. 3 January 2013.
- Caulfield. Keith. Adele's '21' 2012's Best Selling Album; Gotye Has Top Song. Billboard.
- Web site: The Nielsen Company & Billboard's 2012 Music Industry Report. MarketWatch.
- Web site: Official UK Albums Top 100 - 15th December 2012 | Official Albums Chart . . 15 December 2012 . dead . https://archive.today/20131020181851/http://www.officialcharts.com/albums-chart/ . 20 October 2013 .
- Web site: The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Albums of 2012 Revealed! . Lane . Dan . 2 January 2013 . Official Charts Company . 26 January 2013.
- News: The Official Top 20 biggest Christmas albums of the century. Copsey. Rob. 14 December 2018. Official Charts Company. 17 December 2018.
- Bliss. Karen. Adele, Gotye Top SoundScan Year-End Charts in Canada. Billboard. 10 January 2013.
- Web site: Record Industry in Numbers: The recorded music market in 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20130409080309/http://www.aria.com.au/documents/RIN2013.pdf. dead. 9 April 2013. 9 April 2013.
- Rod Stewart. Merry Christmas, Baby. 2012. booklet. Verve Records. 0602537103683.
- Web site: Idelson . Karen . Audionamix mixes Old, New with Tech Wizardry . Variety . 10 January 2013 .
- Web site: ARIA Top 100 Albums 2012 . . 26 January 2013.
- Web site: Year-end Charts – Albums 2012 . GfK Dutch Charts . Hung Medien . Dutch . 26 January 2013.
- Web site: Årslista Album - År 2012 . . Swedish . 17 January 2013 . 17 January 2013 . https://archive.today/20130117090325/http://www.hitlistan.se/netdata/ghl002.mbr/lista?liid=83&dfom=20120101 . dead .
- Billboard 200 Albums - 2012 Year End Charts. Billboard. 30 December 2012.
- Top Canadian Albums – Year-End 2013. Billboard. 18 October 2020.
- Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2013. Official Charts Company. 18 October 2020.
- Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2013. Billboard. 18 October 2020.
- Web site: 2013 Juno Award Nominees . CARAS . 20 February 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130221085934/http://junoawards.ca/nominees-winners/ . 21 February 2013 .
